Learning Adobe After Effects: Getting Comfortable and Leaning on Youtube Tutorials
Even though I was just learning the basic functions of After Effects, learning this kind of software requires that you know what kind of outcome that you were looking for. After Effects has so many functions and capabilities that sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. The guided videos and tutorials as well as help from the experts gave me a good guideline of very basic functions that I should master in order to achieve simple animations on top of moving video. However, what I found most helpful was searching on Youtube for specific functions that I needed so that I could play it side by side on the computer screen and follow the functions. The guided tutorials were good to follow along and create a familiarity with the software, but since I wasn’t able to reference them while I was creating my own file, I found myself leaning on Youtube to review those functions. Also, while I tried using the Adobe Support Community, the Community of Practice, the discussions that were happening on those boards were much more advanced then compared to what I was trying to do. Due to the volume of the simple functions alone I was finding that it was difficult to stay motivated and work through various challenges when I was working on files that were provided to me rather than the ones that I had designed.
“Illeris attributes this to the incentive dimension of learning, where the learning outcome can be dependent on the incentive”
Illeris (2010) attributes this to the incentive dimension of learning, where the learning outcome can be dependent on the incentive. He defines this incentive as “the mobilization and the strength and nature of the mental energy that is driving the process” (Illeris, 2010, p.19). In order to make good use of this practice file that I am working on, I designed a logo for my wedding in 2023 set to a video with the color scheme that we are using for our decorations! I was hoping that this would help motivate me and bring real world application to the work that I am doing. If I enjoy the end result, I am excited to add this to our wedding website or provide the file to our videographer for the wedding.
So, four posts in and I finally feel comfortable uploading the file I have been working on in After Effects these past few weeks. I took the time to design the logo that I wanted to very simply animate within the software and I was able to download a free video off of the internet to serve my purposes. Since I was able to actually create and export a fully functioning video, I feel confident in declaring a level of familiarity with the very basic fundamentals of After Effects. Through the process of creating the video above, I discovered what was more helpful than not for a complete beginner like me.
Since I was able to actually create and export a fully functioning video, I feel confident in declaring a level of familiarity with the very basic fundamentals of After Effects. Through the process of creating the video below, I discovered what was more helpful than not for a complete beginner like me.